Hugs
by Garuda1178
Summary: Sometimes, all it takes to change someones life is a simple hug. One-Shot.


**Author's Note:** **So, one day I was dicking around on the interwebs when this preview for the new rings movie. Next thing I know, my wall explodes and my muse is standing there with this crazy look in her eyes and her hair in disarray and she screams I HAVE AN IDEA. She has since spent the last day or two following me around and bashing me over the head with a massive toy mallet that she pulled from ABSOLUTLY FUCKING NOWHERE, trying to get to put this story to paper so here it is. Maybe the psycho-bitch will leave me alone for a bit and help me with my other stories when this is over.**

It was a rather plain Monday to be honest, other than it sucking major balls simply because it's Monday. If someone tells you that they love Mondays they are traitors to humanity, or body-snatchers; don't let them convince you otherwise. Anyway, it was a rather plain day, people went to work, then either went home or to the bar or…other places. Let's follow one of these people for a moment.

He was tall, about 6'2", with broad shoulders and a strong face with a five o'clock shadow. His dark hair swayed in the soft breeze before calming, and falling to just below his jawline, while his emerald eyes gazed about almost disinterestedly. The man's hoodie was a combination of red and black tribal designs on a grey background while his black pants had red tribal designs and his sneakers were plain black with red shoelaces.

James sighed, 'Another day, another dollar in the hole.' he thought. He looked up at the sky and watched as the clouds seemed to lazily float across the vast blue expanse. His phone going off broke him from his reverie as it went off. Checking the caller ID and recognizing the name he answered with "City morgue, you stab'em we'll slab'em." A bark of laughter met his rather flippant words as a voice tinged with amusement spoke. "You know, one of these days someone ridiculously important is going to call you and you're going to scare them off or piss them off enough that they're going to put a hit out for you." the voice said. James' lips pulled into a slight smirk. "You know as well as I do that there is no way nor any reason for anyone that important would ever call me." he said.

There was more laughter from over the line and James chuckled along. After a moment, the chuckling died down and there was a silence for a time. "So, what did you need Ben?" James asked. He heard Ben sigh over the connection and decided that he wasn't going to like what he was going to say. "I need you to come in over the weekend for the next few weeks." he said. Well, what do you know? He really didn't like what he had said. James sighed explosively "Any particular reason why?" he asked with some heat behind the question. There was another sigh over the phone. "David was found dead in his apartment." Ben answered.

James raised an eyebrow at that. "David? Really? Someone went out of their way to kill David?" he asked. "They don't really know, like I said they found him and he had this look of abject terror on his face. But beyond that they couldn't find anything to point to a cause of death. His heart just seemed to have stopped beating." Ben explained. James snorted "Maybe he was scared to death." he extrapolated. He heard Ben snort "It's not polite to talk about the dead like that." Ben said. "On the other hand, that looks like what most likely happened. With his health problems, it wouldn't surprise me that he was so startled that his heart gave out." he continued.

'Yeah, health problems.' thought James. David was, in essence, a fat fuck. With his abysmal eating habits and morbidly obese body it was a wonder that his heart hadn't given out much earlier. "Anyway, like I said I need you to come in extra hours for a while. Just until I can find a replacement for David." Ben said. James sighed again "Yeah, yeah, I got you. I better be getting paid for all this extra work I'll be putting in." he said. "So now you're calling me a cheat?" Ben asked in deadpan. "You know what I'm talking about man." James replied. "Whatever, you'll get paid don't you worry your pretty little head about that." Ben said.

James ended the call after that and looked back up to the sky. He sighed 'Better get home, need to eat then hit the hay. Going to be a long few weeks.' he thought as he started walking home.

After a half-hour, James unlocked the door to his apartment and threw his keys on his kitchen table. He kicked his shoes off and started to rummage through his kitchen looking for ingredients. Finding what he wanted he set about making dinner for himself while he put the radio on in the background. Humming to a song that was playing he finished cooking and set his table, dished up his food and ate silently as the music continued playing.

Finishing, he loaded his fridge with the left overs washed the dishes then looked around his apartment thinking. He tilted his head to the side 'Haven't checked my email in a while.' he thought. Mind made up he plopped down in his chair in front of his computer and powered it on. Opening his browser, he opened his email and after looking through the various emails began deleting them in mass. After deleting the vast majority of emails, he came upon one that was from an unknown sender. Knowing that he shouldn't but with overwhelming curiosity he opened the email.

It was empty other than a video, which by itself wasn't too strange though the lack of title or caption was a bit odd. Still feeling the burning curiosity, James clicked the play button on the video and settled in to watch. The video was beyond weird, there was a ring of light, what looked like the wake of a ship and other weird shit. When it finished, James really couldn't wrap his head around what he had just seen. He was startled when his phone started going off.

Standing, he walked over and grabbed his phone. Checking the caller ID, which said unknown, he hit the accept button and put it up against his ear. "Hello?" he asked. For a moment, there was nothing from the other side except the sound of breathing then " **SeVeN DaYs.** " a dark voice spoke then cut out to the dial tone. James just stared at his phone for a moment then spoke "Ok see you then." he said. He put his phone down, stripped, took a shower put on some sweat pants then flopped down onto his bed, falling asleep in no time.

 **{One Week Later}**

After forgetting about the strange video and call, James went about his work as he usually did. Of course, putting in even more hours left him dead tired at the end of each day, leaving him to collapse on his bed each night dead to the world, some days he didn't even make it to his bed and crashed on his couch.

On one such night, James was dead to the world on his couch when his TV turned on to show static. After a moment, the static cleared to show a well in a field, then an arm appeared and pulled a body out of the well and started making its way towards the TV screen. Eventually the body made its way to the TV screen and pushed itself through.

She was…confused, at this point the people in the room where she appeared would have screamed in terror and tried to escape. Except the room, she entered only had one occupant and he was sleeping on a couch facing away from the TV. This had never happened before, she was at a complete loss as to what to do. They always try to escape and she eventually catches them then kills them. This was the first time that the person she was going to kill was asleep and wasn't screaming and trying to get away. At a complete loss, as to what to do she did the only thing that she could think of, she started to shake him and get him to wake up.

For a moment, nothing happened then as she continued to shake him James slowly came out of his slumber and rolled over to look into the bright blue eyes of a girl. He yelped and rolled over the back of his couch with a loud thud. The girl, figuring that things were back on track, stood from her crouched position and was going to start walking forward when James popped back up from behind the couch. "The fuck… how the hell did you get in my apartment!?" he shouted.

The girl was taken aback, that…had never happened before. They were usually trying to run screaming at this point not asking her how she got in their houses. While she stood there in a shocked stupor James looked her up and down and noticed she was drenched, dripping water onto the floor. 'Odd, I don't think I saw anything that said there was going to be rain tonight.' he thought. He sighed, 'I don't have time for this.' he thought.

Standing from behind the couch he motioned to the girl. "Come on." he said. She tilted her head in confusion at him and he sighed. "You're soaking wet, and probably frozen to the bone. Let's get you out of that and into something dry. Probably going to need a shower as well." he explained. James left her standing in his living room as he went to the bathroom to start the shower and grab a towel. Going back to his living room, he found the girl who couldn't be any older than 12 still standing in the middle of his living room dripping water all over the floor. James sighed again as he wrapped the towel around the girl.

Samara jerked as the fluffy towel was wrapped around her. She looked up into the emerald gaze of the man she had come to kill. James felt her jerk and wasn't really surprised, she looked like she had spent the last few years out on the streets away from human contact. He put his hands on her shoulders and slowly maneuvered her towards the bathroom. Opening the door steam came pouring out in a gigantic wave.

James pulled the towel off the girl and pointed towards the tub. "There's plenty of hot water and lots of soap. Take all the time you need." he said as he left the bathroom and closed the door. A half hour later James knocked on the door "I don't have any girl's clothes so you'll have to make due with one of my shirts and a pair of shorts." he called out. Not hearing anything from the other side of the door that could be considered a response he slowly opened the door and peeked inside.

The girl was still standing in the middle of his bathroom, the small puddle of water under her feet giving away that she hadn't moved from the spot since he left her a half hour ago, he sighed getting the girls attention as she turned to look at him. James entered the bathroom and pulled the plug on the tub letting the cold water drain, then turned the water on again and set it to relatively warm. Once the temperature was set, he plugged the drain again then turned towards the girl again. She looked at him weirdly for a moment before he sighed again, "I'm going to have to bath you, aren't I?" he asked rhetorically.

Samara said nothing as she gazed at this strange man before her utterly perplexed. She had come to kill him yet he showed no fear of her, every other person man, woman, child that she had come for had shown some form of fear and yet this man showed none of it. She watched him approach and reach for her. She didn't flinch like she had last time though it was a very near thing. Samara looked up into his eyes as he cleared his throat "I'm going to pull your wet clothes off you then help you into the tub. After that you'll get a thorough cleaning then we'll get you dressed and some food into you. Then bed, we can figure out the rest in the morning." he said.

She didn't react as James walked over and knelt to her eye level. "Arms up." he said. Samara tilted her head but did as instructed and raised her arms above her head. James then grabbed the bottom of the tattered dress she was wearing and lifted it up and off the girl's small frame. Once she was properly undressed he lead her over to the bath and lifted her into the warm water. Samara jerked when her skin met the water but after submerging her lower half and allowing the heat of the water to seep into her body she almost immediately relaxed into the water's warm embrace.

Allowing her to soak in the tub for a moment, James grabbed a luffa, lathered it in soap, and began wiping her body down. Having no memory of something like this happening in her life, Samara closed her eyes in pleasure and started making a slight rumbling in her throat. James paused for a second before continuing washing the girl desperately trying to hold his laughter inside. 'She's like a cat, with all that purring and shit.' he thought in amusement. Shaking his head in amusement he used the water to rinse the suds from her body before grabbing a bottle of shampoo and massaging it into her scalp.

If Samara thought his previous actions were pleasurable, then what he was doing now was pure heaven. The rumbling in her throat grew louder and she actually pushed her head back into James' fingers. He couldn't hold in the laughter this time though he was able to cut it down to a soft chuckle. The girl either didn't hear or didn't care as she just kept purring and leaning into his hands. Getting a small whine when he pulled his fingers back to begin rinsing her again he chuckled again and just shook his head.

Pulling the plug on the drain he stood her up and lifted her out of the tub and stood her before him. Now that she was clean and after such a warm bath some color was starting to come back to her skin. Before, it was an almost unhealthy borderline dead grey, but now it was a slightly healthier pink. Nodding, he grabbed the fluffiest towel he had, which was his of course, and began drying her off.

Samara squirmed as the towel slid over her sensitive skin but didn't move much. With her now dry and the towel wrapped around her body James leaned down and looked into her eyes and a warm smile broke over his face "So there is a pretty girl under all that." he said. Samara blushed heavily and ducked her head, hiding her face behind her long black hair. James then stood and held up the shirt and the shorts. "Let's get you dressed then we'll get some food into you." he said. The girl just did nothing except nod and let the towel pool at her feet.

After helping her into the shirt and shorts James had her follow him into the dining room and sit down in one of the chairs. Now in the kitchen James realized that he hadn't gone grocery shopping in a while and his cupboards were rather barren. Still, he had promised food so he was going to deliver with whatever he could find. Opening the fridge, he almost let out a whoop of joy in finding some eggs and bacon. 'Yes, these will do nicely.' he thought.

Fifteen minutes later, and the smell of cooked bacon wafted through the house, making Samara's stomach rumble. James soon walked through the arch separating the kitchen and the dining room with two plates of bacon and eggs. Setting a plate in front of the girl he realized that he had no idea what her name was. Facepalming, he thought back and in a rush of dirty humor, realized that he had gone about it in entirely the wrong order, name, dinner, then naked bathing together. Setting his plate on the table he looked over to the girl "So I realize this is terribly rude how I've gone about this but, what's your name?" he asked.

Samara started, looking away from her plate of food and looked back at the man on the other side of the table. They stayed like that for a moment before she opened her mouth "S…S…Sa…Samara." she rasped out. Making a mental note to get her to drink lots of water and to slowly work her up to full sentences James nodded. "A pretty name for a pretty girl." he said. Samara blushed again and ducked behind her hair. "Well you gave me yours so my name's James.' he continued.

They lapsed into a comfortable silence as the clink of silverware on ceramic echoed outward. Looking up he noticed that Samara hadn't touched her food at all. "Is something wrong?" he asked. She said nothing just continued to stare at her plate. Frowning for a moment, a devious idea popped in his head and he grinned before grabbing her plate and her fork. Samara looked up startled before a fork full of eggs was shoved before her face. Her gaze shifted from the fork to James and back again before her mouth opened.

After feeding her, which was a novel experience, he put the dishes in the sink and entered the living room where he had told Samara to sit on the couch. With a full belly for the first time in a long-time Samara felt happy for the first time in her memory, well that and tired. She turned and a small smile broke across her face when she caught sight of James. Seeing the smile James smiled back then fully entered the living room. "Alright you little munchkin let's get you to bed." he lifted her in a princess carry and walked toward his bedroom. Laying her down in his bed, he tucked her in "You'll sleep here tonight, tomorrow I'll work on getting you your own bed." he said. Samara could feel herself starting to fall asleep and when he was sure she was actually asleep James sighed before leaving his room and going back to the couch. Laying down he quickly fell asleep, surrendering his body to Morpheus and his realm of dreams.

Samara woke sometime later and couldn't get back to sleep no matter how she tossed or turned. Finally giving up she crawled out of the bed and walked back towards the living room. Seeing James asleep on the couch she walked over and lightly poked him a few times. Groggily, James opened his eyes and spied Samara looking at him. Slightly confused for a moment before he watched her eyes shift from his to his body lying on the couch. Sighing he lifted his blanket and left it as an open invitation. Samara, realizing that he was giving permission crawled onto the couch and into James' arms. Letting the blanket fall back down and wrapping his arm around Samara's petit body and pulling her closer he felt her snuggle into him. Just before he fell back asleep he thought he heard a slight whisper from Samara.

As Samara snuggled into James' warmth she felt far more content than she could ever remember feeling in her life. Just before she fell asleep she let out a small murmur. "Daddy."

 **Author's Note:** **There it's done, are you going to leave me alone now. Turning to look at my muse as she lays reclined smoking a cigarette with her hair and clothes in total disarray as though she had just had the best sex in her life. So, any way like I said in the beginning this story kinda just hit me over the head one day and well here it is. At the moment, I have no plans to make this anything other than the one-shot it is. Though I may be persuaded to make it into a full story if enough people ask me to. In regards to my other stories. A couple of them are still hard-copies and I want to get those transcribed over to digital first. So, expect updates for Sins of the Father and Insanity Ensues before the others get updates. I'll see ya'll on the other side. Deuces!**


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